Gays Yelling “Stop The Hate” Hound Woman and Destroy Business – How Is this NOT a “Hate Crime”???

So, here’s the Deal: Last month there was a referendum in California called “Proposition 8.” The Proposition was to amend the California Constitution to define “marriage” as being between one man and one woman. It’s something so basic it’s never really been written into law before, because it was such an accepted and assumed “given” in common law.

A life thrown into turmoil by a donation for Proposition 8

Steve Lopez – December 14, 2008

Margie Christoffersen didn’t make it very far into our conversation before she cracked. Chest heaving, tears streaming, she reached for her husband Wayne’s hand and then mine, squeezing as if she’d never let go. “I’ve almost had a nervous breakdown. It’s been the worst thing that’s ever happened to me,” she sobbed as curious patrons at a Farmers Market coffee shop looked on, wondering what calamity had visited this poor woman who’s an honest 6 feet tall, with hair as blond as the sun.

Well, Christoffersen was a manager at El Coyote, the Beverly Boulevard landmark restaurant that’s always had throngs of customers waiting to get inside. Many of them were gay, and Christoffersen, a devout Mormon, donated $100 in support of Proposition 8. Last month her donation showed up on lists of “for” and “against” donors. And El Coyote became a target.

A boycott was organized on the Internet, with activists trashing El Coyote on restaurant review sites. Then came throngs of protesters, some of them shouting “shame on you” at customers. The police arrived in riot gear one night to quell the angry mob.

The mob left, but so did the customers.

Sections of the restaurant have been closed, a manager told me Friday during a very quiet lunch hour. Some of the 89 employees, many of them gay, have had their hours cut, and layoffs are looming. And Christoffersen, who has taken a voluntary leave of absence, is wondering whether she’ll ever again be able to work at the restaurant, which opened in 1931 (at 1st and La Brea) and is owned by her 92-year-old mother.

A lot of customers saw Christoffersen as the face of the restaurant. She was the hostess who roamed from table to table with a pitcher of water, refilling glasses and schmoozing with friends.

Christoffersen, raised Mormon by her late father, told me she has no problem with gay people. “I love them like everybody else.”

Fred Karger said on his Californians Against Hate website, Karger has been outing Prop. 8 supporters, but he thinks Christoffersen’s small personal donation didn’t warrant such a backlash against El Coyote. Karger also spoke out against the resignation of a Sacramento theater director who gave $1,000 to Yes on 8 and happens to be Mormon.

The focus should be on the Mormon Church, Karger said, and on people and businesses that gave hundreds of thousands of dollars to Yes on 8. Now business is off about 30%, Wayne said. Margie tried to smooth things over last month by inviting gay clients to a free lunch to talk it over, but she left in tears when asked if she would write a check to the group challenging Prop. 8.

I sat on the patio with Wayne and two other El Coyote managers — Arnoldo Archila and Bill Schoeppner — who happen to be gay. “We always joked around with Margie,” said Schoeppner, who’s been on the job 26 years. “I’m a Democrat and voted for Obama; she probably voted for McCain — so what? If she were a bigot or a homophobe, you wouldn’t have had all these gay people” working at the restaurant or eating at it. “She didn’t cut a check from the restaurant,” added Archila, a 28-year employee. “The restaurant didn’t have anything to do with it.”

I agree; Margie had a tiny little part in it. And as any American citizen, she should have the right of free speech. In fact, singling her out for retribution is bordering on destroying her right to a secret ballot.

I hope these activists aren’t hoping to win any converts to their cause by driving nice restaurant managers to nervous breakdowns and throwing people out of work in a recession. Or attacking organized religion, for that matter. Odd that the article didn’t mention that black churches were equally prominent, if not more so, than Mormons.

But that doesn’t fit the Agenda, does it?

~~JD~~

Like this:

LikeLoading...

Related

One Response

This story is the epitome of all the wrong done in the wake of the marriage battle by the opposition. The media should have supported this woman, instead, the L.A. Times listed her on their website as a p8 supporter even though her contribution was so little.

Private donations are an expression of free speech, and as a major force in print media, the L.A. Times should have presented that facet of the issue first and foremost. Instead, the Times ignored that and looked the other way while gay activists went to war with the information provided by their Times’ own website. The blogs and other so-called “Pajama Media” put the big dogs to shame on this one.

At least they’ve come out with a sympathetic interview of her…what, only a month and a half late?